The Beginning: Dargo
by bodiechan
Summary: Lilo meets a man named Shamus Larp and together they save Finder, an experiment named Dargo, and themselves.
1. The Man and the Pod

CHAPTER ONE: THE MAN AND THE POD

One cool, dark night in November, an experiment pod rolled down the leaf of a tall palm tree. The pod read 11, but that can't be right. On Jumba's experiment 11, the pod reads 011. And it's a different color, too. So what's going on? I have no idea… yet.

The pod rolled onto a beach on the island of Kauai, Hawaii. A tall, mysterious man in a black cloak walked over and picked it up.

You may be asking, "Who is this mysterious man?" But I don't know yet. I don't even know what he looked like. His collar was so high that it reached his nose, and his hat so low that it reached his nose as well. His cloak was so large on him that no other part was showing, except his shiny brown shoes.

I told you he was mysterious.

"Experiment 11… Hmm," he said to himself, "Dargo. I haven't seen her in years."

The man pocketed Dargo's pod and smiled to himself. "My, my, my, the others are sure to be surprised. Imagine, I say, 'Dargo's come back, guys!' The commotion they'll make." He chuckled. "My, my, my."

The palm tree rustled, and then disappeared. For a second, a strange creature was visible, but it soon disappeared into the night whispering, "Dargo's been found! Dargo's back! I must tell the others!"

The mysterious man chuckled. "Pepri. Come out of there."

He did.

"I still don't understand why you call me that," muttered Pepri. "I don't like it. It reminds me of pepper. I'm not pepper."

"I've told you a thousand times," said the man. "Pepri means 'patch' in Kweltikwan."

"So? Why didn't you call me Patch then, huh?" Pepri demanded. "I don't like Pepri."

"_I_ liked Pepri better than Patch," said the man. "And besides, don't you feel great to have a namesake that's a famous genius?"

"He's an _evil _genius," muttered Pepri.

"So am I," the man pointed out. "You're really very lucky, you know. I wish I had a famous evil genius as a namesake."

"Just because the pepper name's in his language, you call that a namesake?" Pepri snapped. "The others all call me Patch. Why can't you?"

The man laughed. "Because I made you."

"So?" Pepri wasn't really mad; he just loved to tease people and argue.

"_So_ I can do anything I want with you. If I say your name is Pepri," said the man, "your name is Pepri. And there's nothing you can do about it."

"Righty-ho!" said Pepri cheerfully. "And that's why I love you, Dad!" He laughed.

Instead of laughing, however, the man frowned. "Don't call me that," he snapped.

"You know my name very well."

"As do you," said Pepri. "My name's Patch."

"Fine," said the man bitterly, "_Patch_, then."

"Then I'll call you Shamus Larp," Pepri replied. "No more dad-talk, Dad."

"That's great, Pepri," said Shamus, and they walked off together.


	2. Lilo's Hula Recital

CHAPTER TWO: LILO'S HULA RECITAL

"…And that's how the werewolf got its fur."

Lilo Pelekai walked off the stage of her hula recital to some claps and cheers.

"Woo-hoo!" called Stitch from the audience. "Go Lilo!"

"Thank you," she said graciously, as she sat down next to Mertle.

Moses, Lilo's hula teacher, climbed up onto the stage. "Well, Lilo, that… um… _informative_ dance about werewolves was very… _interesting_. Next, we have Mertle Edmonds, who will be doing a hula called 'Break the Day.'"

"It's about morning and the sun," Mertle informed them, climbing up next to Moses, "breaking the day. In this case 'breaking' means 'starting.' But only a _weirdo_ wouldn't know that." She stuck her tongue out at Lilo.

"Booooo!" called Stitch. "Stitch break _you_! Ika patootie! Wanga–"

"Stitch!" Nani closed his mouth.

"Thank you for stopping that rude interruption, _somebody_," said Mertle, glaring at Nani; thinking that she was the one booing.

"Nani…" Moses frowned. "If you don't want to see the other girls perform, then please leave."

"Yeah," said Mertle, "_please_. Now get outta here!"

"Naga Nani," Stitch said quickly, not wanting to get Nani in trouble. "It was me. Loocha-varanda."

"And now you're talking in that weird language again," said Mertle. "Does weirdness run your freaky family?"

Teresa, Yuki, and Elena giggled.

"That's not funny!" cried Lilo.

"Yeah," said Victoria. "It's mean, Mertle.

Weird is good… and interesting."

"Yeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaahhhhh!" called Stitch.

"Stitch!" Nani covered his mouth again. "You're gonna get us into even _more_ trouble!"

"Aha!" said Mertle, for no apparent reason.

"Hey," said Yuki, "if that was Lilo's sister talking… then who was she talking to?"

"Yeah," agreed Elena. "Who was the one interrupting Mertle?"

"Maybe it was a ghost!" said Teresa.

"Named Stitch!"

"Stitch? Oh, that's just Lilo's dog," said Victoria, but it was the wrong thing to say.

"A talking dog? A _mean_ one?" asked Mertle. Then she realized. "Yeah… actually, I _have_ seen him talking before!"

"A _talking dog_!" Two men stood up. Lilo gasped as she recognized the two alien hunters that had once tried to steal Stitch and one of his cousins: Merwin and Dean.

"It's him!" Merwin cried and caught Stitch in a giant butterfly net. "The one who the big guy let get away!"

"I wonder where his annoying friend is," said Dean. "I'm glad it's not here – that one drove me nuts!"

Stitch growled. He couldn't escape.

"Stitch!" shouted Lilo.

"Look!" said Merwin. "It's that girl!"

"We'd better get outta here fast," said Dean, "or she'll try to–"

Just then, the lights went off. When they came back on a few minutes later, the alien hunters were gone… and so was Stitch!

"Stitch!" cried Lilo. "They got Stitch!"

"I dunno, Dad," said Pepri, who was hiding in the shadows with Shamus and another creature. "Maybe we should get him and give him back."

"Are you crazy?" asked Shamus. "Actually, you are, but we can't give him back. I _need_

Experiment 6-2-6."

"Whatever you say," said Pepri, and disappeared after the alien hunters.


	3. Jumba and Finder's Journey

CHAPTER THREE: JUMBA AND FINDER'S JOURNEY

That night, Lilo was in bed looking at her photos sadly. The elevator rose, and Nani walked into the roof-top dome.

"Lilo?"

Lilo looked up. "Nani?" She jumped up, excited, and ran to her sister. "Well? What happened? Did you…"

Nani sighed. "We… we couldn't find him, Lilo," she said softly.

"Oh." Lilo was worried. "But… Jumba said Finder could find anyone or anything. Why couldn't he track down Merwin and Dean?"

"He could," said Nani quietly, "only Stitch wasn't with them."

"He wasn't?" Lilo was confused. This didn't make any sense. "Then why couldn't Finder just find where he was, then?"

"He did," said Nani quietly, again, "but… well, the man was heavily armed, it seems, and…"

Lilo gasped.

Jumba came upstairs sniffling, carrying a motionless, red body. Finder.

"Jumba!" Lilo was terrified. "What… what _happened_!"

"1-5-8… I am meaning _Finder_…" Jumba sniffled. "…and Jumba followed fake alien hunters. When we were cornering them, we were not seeing 6-2-6. They were saying that they had been robbed of the precious specimen."

"Stitch!" cried Lilo.

"Yes," said Jumba. "1-5-8 picked up new scent and we were following… it was leading us to laboratory. Finder was telling Jumba to wait outside. And then…"

Lilo wanted to hear more, but Jumba was sniffling hard now and she decided to let him pause.

"It had been long time since experiment went in. Jumba went inside to be seeing 1-5-8 and Stitch. And found… this." He held out the lifeless body of Finder.

Pleakley, who had been hiding in the closet the whole time, gasped and ran out. "The poor thing! What do you think hit it?"

"1-5-8 does not die…" Jumba stopped there. "…get – get hurt easily." He sniffed. "Must have been very advanced weapon that… that was doing this."

On the roof, Pepri snickered. "Humerous, a _very advanced weapon_? Sheesh, these guys really… _OW!_"

Shamus had hit him on the head. "You don't make a good spy, Pepri. You can't keep your big mouth shut." He grinned. "Do I have to call in Pidgeon? He can keep quiet."

"No!" said Pepri, but Shamus had already blown a whistle with the number 15 on it. He had twenty-seven whistles; one for each of his creations.

Soon Pidgeon arrived.

"How can I be of assistance, Sir Shamus?" he asked quickly. "I would like to be very much, Sir Shamus."

"That's more like it," said Shamus. "Pidgeon, I'd like you to have a little talk with Humerous. Tell him that 1-5-8 is fatally injured, thanks to him. We needed 1-5-8 for… for some experiments."

"Yes, Sir Shamus!" said Pidgeon.

"Ooooohhhh!" laughed Pepri. "What _kind_?"

Suddenly, Lilo heard somebody laughing. "Okay – who's laughing?" she demanded. She didn't think Finder dying was the least bit funny. But nobody answered.

"No one's laughing, Lilo," said Nani.

"Except me," whispered Pepri. "_OW!_"

Shamus had hit him on the head again. "Be quiet!" he hissed, as Pidgeon flew off. "We'll talk to the little girl _later_."

"Fine," grumbled Pepri, but he still wasn't _completely_ quiet.


	4. The Reunion

CHAPTER FOUR: THE REUNION

Two hours later, Lilo was alone. Pepri smiled. "Time to talk to the little beauty," he said.

He and Shamus climbed up onto the dome, but the skylight was firmly closed.

"Hmm… I think we may need to call in

Tress," Shamus said.

"What? No! Please," Pepri added. "Please?"

"Fine. You do it then," said Shamus. "Go on. Break open the skylight." When Pepri couldn't do that, Shamus blew the whistle numbered 5.

But strangely, not one, but three experiments appeared.

"Hi," said B.T., the evil-looking one. "You called?"

"Yah," said Tress, the big one. "Whatcha

want?"

"Wants help, I'm guessing," said Robber, the green one.

"Yah, that's right," said all three.

"Guys," said Shamus, "I only called for Tress. Not all three of you."

"So we can't watch him break in?" asked B.T. "What's the fun in that?"

"Why not?" asked Robber. "And you might need a lookout… that's Blood Thirsty for ya."

B.T. smiled. "It's B.T., Robber."

"Blood Thirsty sound more bad," Tress pointed out.

"Good point," said B.T. "But I still like B.T. better."

"Guys…" Shamus sighed. "You three are too talkative. Can't you just do_ something_ without talking about first for two hours?"

_CREEEAAAKKK!_ Tress had broken open the skylight. "Done! Better?"

Shamus chuckled. "Yes. C'mon, Pepri." Pepri followed Shamus into Lilo and Stitch's room.

"You're not coming 'cause Shamus likes me best," Pepri bragged to the stealing experiments.

"Nah," said Tress. "You no better. Us jus' too make much noise."

"He means that Shamus doesn't like you any better, we just make too much noise, the three of us," translated Robber. "He's right."

"Hmph." Pepri stuck his tongue out at them, and then climbed inside the dome.

"It's so dark," he whispered, tripping over Shamus. "Maybe Dargo's run away to here." Pepri smiled smugly, but then he saw Dargo's pod safe in Shamus's pocket and frowned.

"Lilo." Shamus shook the sleeping girl lightly. "Lilo! Wake up."

Lilo mumbled in her sleep, but didn't wake.

"Lilo," Shamus said again. "Wake up!"

She was still fast asleep.

"Earth to Lilo!" shouted Pepri. When that didn't work, he whispered in her ear, "This is Stitch, Lilo. Wake up."

She did… halfway.

"Stitch?" she cried, flinging her arms around in circles, her eyes still closed. "_Stitch?_ Where!"

"Who's Stitch?" asked Shamus.

"I dunno," said Pepri. "She was talkin' about 'em earlier. He was with Jumba, Experiment 1-5-8, and some guy called Finder.

She misses him to death!"

"Stiiiiiiii-tch?" Lilo said in her half-sleep. "Where?"

"Not here, Lilo," said Shamus quietly, and Lilo opened her eyes.

"Who – who…" Lilo was terrified. "Who… who _are_ you?"

"I know it is not nice to have a stranger in your house," said Shamus, "but I know where Experiment 6-2-6 is."

"You found _Stitch_?" Lilo was ecstatic. "Where is he? Can you get him back? Now?"

"Not Stitch," said Shamus, "6-2-6. You know, the… the alien?"

"Same thing," said Lilo.

"Whoa! They're the same guy?" said Pepri. "Next thing you're gonna say is Finder's really Experiment 1-5-8!"

"He is," said Lilo.

For once, Pepri couldn't think of anything to say, except, "What?"

"All the experiments have names," said Lilo. She jumped off the bed and reached under, pulling out her catalog of experiments. "See?"

Shamus turned to the first page.

"Experiment 007," he read, "Gigi. Function: Yaps and acts like a dog. Lives with Mertle." He turned to Lilo. "Mertle?"

"She's my…" Lilo tried to think of a word. "Well, she's my friend, but I'm not hers. None of them like me. Except Victoria. One time…"

Not wanting to hear about "one time," Shamus kept reading. "Experiment 010: Felix… Experiment 020: Slick… Experiment 025: Topper… Just like my own." He read on and on.

"So, you know where Stitch is?" asked Lilo, many minutes later.

"Huh? Oh, yeah." Shamus closed the book. "He's here."

Lilo frowned, confused. "What are you–?"

"Lilo!"

Stitch ran up to her and they hugged.

"I know you found him for me," Lilo said to Shamus. "Mucho mahalo… what's your name?"

"Oh, Shamus Larp," he said. "But Lilo, you don't understand."

"I do. You went out to find Stitch and gave him back to me. That was real nice, Mr. Larp." Lilo smiled at him.

Shamus smiled back. _That was real nice, Mr. Larp._ He thought about it. No one had ever called him "real nice" before. Or even "nice," for that matter. "Lilo?"

"Yeah?"

"Call me Shamus. But that's not it," he said. "I told the alien hunters to come to your hula recital and look for 6-2-6. _I_ took him from them. And I cloned parts of him… for my own experiment."

Lilo was surprised. "You… you did?"

He nodded.

"Oh." Lilo smiled. "I still like you, Mr. La– I mean, Shamus."

"I like you too."

For a moment, the silence was broken by nothing. Until…

"I _love_ ya, Lilo!" shouted Pepri, and they all burst out laughing.

"That's just Pepri… I mean, Patch," Shamus added, looking at Pepri. "He's my experiment 13. He hides things in his pockets."

Lilo caught on. "Like Stitch! He hid Stitch!"

"Yah!" said Stitch.

Shamus laughed. "Yep."

"But… then who hurt Finder?" asked Lilo.

"Oh, 1-5-8." Shamus looked worried. "Humerous is _very_ sorry, Lilo. He didn't mean to… to kill him."

Lilo changed moods very suddenly. "Your experiment _killed_ one of Stitch's cousins! I hate you, Mr. Larp!" She started sobbing in anger and hitting him with a pillow.

"Lilo…"

"I hate you!"

"If I could fix Finder," said Shamus quietly, "would you like me again?"

"What, you mean bring him back to life?" Lilo asked incredulously.

"That's right."

"You can't do that!" Lilo almost laughed.

"Yes," said Shamus, "I can. We have nothing to lose. If I can't, it won't hurt 1-5-8."

Lilo thought for a moment. It seemed impossible, but yet… "Okay, Mr. Shamus, you've got yourself a deal!"

"Then there isn't a moment to lose," Shamus said. "We've got an experiment to save!"


	5. Ideas for Experiment 28

CHAPTER FIVE: IDEAS FOR EXPERIMENT 28

"Okay, Lilo. We'll need a friendly face… a lean body… a sharp-clawed hand and a tiny hand… two big ears… a feather duster tail… and an apron."

Shamus, Stitch, and Lilo were trying to think of how they would make Experiment 28, which could save Finder's life. Lilo was on the experiment computer looking up Jumba's experiment pictures.

"Got it!" said Lilo. "We can use Felix's body and one hand and tail."

"0-1-0… Good idea," said Shamus. "We'll use Experiment 1-4-9's head."

Lilo looked up Experiment 149. "Bonnie?"  
Shamus chuckled. "I've always been very fond of her head. My Experiment 17 was really just a cross between her head and 2-5-4's body. She's great, Baby Bonnie is. Gets into all sorts of mischief."

"But 2-5-4, that's Mr. Stenchy! You couldn't have used him!" said Lilo.

"Well, I did," said Shamus, "so live with it."

"You couldn't have!" repeated Lilo. "He's on planet Plorginar! How…?"

"I flew on a spaceship there, stupid!" Shamus laughed. "What did you think, I was lying to you?"

Lilo was in awe. "Wow! You have a spaceship too?"

"Stitch have spaceship," Stitch pointed out.

"Yes, but Shamus is, well… human," said Lilo. "Most humans don't."

"Back to work," Shamus said, and they did.

"Apron easy," said Stitch. He jumped into the elevator platform in the middle of the dome, and ran downstairs into Jumba and Pleakley's room.

Seconds later, Stitch appeared next to them again, holding an apron. "See?"

"Nice work, 6-2… I mean, Stitch," said Shamus.

Pleakley came running into the room shouting at Stitch. "Give me back my cooking apron, you little monster! That cost money!"

Stitch laughed.

"Sorry, Pleakley," said Lilo. "But we need your apron to clone it so we can make an experiment twenty-eight, and save Finder's life. Shamus is helping."

"More important than money," said Stitch.

"No!" Pleakley grabbed his apron. "Give me that, you little monster!"

"No!" Lilo shouted. "Give that back!"

"No!" Pleakley shouted.

"Naga," Stitch said.

"Pleakley," said Shamus, "when twenty-eight is finished and famous and saving lives, don't you want to be able to say, 'My apron helped make experiment twenty-eight and saved many lives!' and be famous?"

"Well, yes," Pleakley admitted, "but I need that apron back by dinner."

"Okataka," said Stitch, as Pleakley went down the elevator. "Takka!"

"Mucho mahalo!" said Lilo.

"You are very welcome!" called Pleakley. "Just think… me… famous! Da da da da!" He started singing "Here Comes the Bride" for some unknown reason.

"Now…," said Lilo, turning back to the computer, "we need a small hand and huge ears."

"Hmm," said Shamus.

"I found it!" said Lilo. "Melty's hands are so tiny!"

"Perfect," said Shamus.

"Felix, Bonnie, Pleakley, Melty, who?" recited Stitch.

"Look," said Shamus, "that experiment. His ears are perfect! Which one is he?"

"6-2-7," whispered Lilo.

"6-2-7?" asked Shamus

"6-2-7!" growled Stitch.

"6-2-7," said Jumba, walking into the dome, "yes. Most evil of all. Made _after_ 6-2-6, in secret." He grinned.

"Where could we find these experiments?" asked Shamus. "I know that Bonnie's in prison, but where are the others?"

"Felix is with Big Stinky-head," said Lilo. "I think Melty's at…"

"Not to be worrying," said Jumba. He placed 627's pod on the ground, next to containers holding Bonnie and Melty. "We need still need to be getting 0-1-0 from Gantu."

"Grrr!" said Stitch.

"Than off we go!" said Shamus. "Let's!"


End file.
